NDAMU SANDU IN MARRAKECH, MOROCCO
Cyclone Idai which ravaged Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique has significantly affected the flow of goods through one of the country’s major corridors, a Ministry of Finance official said Friday. This comes as a United Nations agency has said that 259 had been killed.
The cyclone also left 217 missing, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared the cyclone a national disaster announcing two days of mourning beginning Saturday.
Pfungwa Kunaka, director of Budgets in the Ministry of Finance, told a committee of experts meeting in Marrakech, Morocco that Zimbabwe was facing challenges after the cyclone affected Beira, one of the continent biggest ports, which services mostly Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, eastern DRC and Zambia. Kunaka said this while responding to a report on Africa review meeting on the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing countries for the decade 2014 to 2024.
The meeting was held during the ongoing 52nd Session of the Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development which runs from March 20 to 26.
The Beira port is considered as an alternative to Durban and Dar Es Salaam for shippers who need a fast, cost effective and no headaches logistics solutions to avoid congestion and escalating costs.
Beira was founded in 1891 as the headquarters of the Companhia de Moçambique (“Mozambique Company”) on the site of an old Muslim settlement. The port developed as a trade and transportation outlet and as a transshipment point for coastal cargo. Principal exports passing through Beira are ores, tobacco, food products, cotton, and hides and skins. The main imports are liquid fuels, fertilizers, wheat, heavy equipment, textiles, and beverages.
Kunaka’s remarks come as the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairman Tafadzwa Musarara told a parliamentary portfolio committee on Monday that 100 truckloads of Zimbabwe’s wheat imports are holed up in Beira after Cyclone Idai destroyed infrastructure and made most roads impassable.
On Thursday, Total Zimbabwe said the fuel supply chain logistics into Zimbabwe had been severely affected. “The jetty in Beira has been damaged and can’t receive vessels to discharge. The pumping house roof has been blown away, electricity board was affected and the status is not yet known,” wrote Chris Kasima, Total Zimbabwe’s GT, Mines and Specialties Manager. The letter was copied to Total Zimbabwe’s MD Ronan Bescond and two other executives.
The Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing countries for the decade 2014 to 2024 was adopted by the international community in 2015 as a holistic framework to address the structural challenges faced by landlocked developing countries. The structural challenges will be addressed through six mutually reinforcing priority areas—fundamental transit policies, infrastructure development and maintenance, international trade and trade facilitation, regional integration and cooperation, structural economic transformation and means of implementation.
